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I read a lot of non-fiction. When I read something surprising, I recount it for everybody who will listen. This thread will be a digital version of this: a rolling list of CRAZY ANECDOTES FROM HISTORY I CAN'T SHUT UP ABOUT.™
1a. THE POWER BROKER by Robert A. Caro
New York City mayor William O'Dwyer worked for years to come to power, and over the years amassed a number of shady connections. By the time he got the nomination, he realized that becoming mayor would bring these connections to light.
New York City mayor William O'Dwyer worked for years to come to power, and over the years amassed a number of shady connections. By the time he got the nomination, he realized that becoming mayor would bring these connections to light.
1b. Once nominated, the only way to step down was to be appointed to a judgeship. So, he began to beg those in power to give him an appointment. Instead, in 1946, he won the mayoral election.
1c. Fast forward to 1950. Corruption is being investigated across the city. On the eve of a giant police bribery trial, more than 100 policemen resign. O'Dwyer knows he's next. Conveniently he is named Ambassador to Mexico and he resigns as mayor and books it across the border.
1d. If a mayor resigns, the post falls to the President of the City Council. The guy who held this job was chosen in 1945 when O'Dwyer was first running for mayor.
1e. I'm quoting the book now: "...the leaders... realized that since O'Dwyer was Irish and from Brooklyn, while Joseph was Jewish and from the Bronx, the slate could have ethnic and geographic balance only if its third member was an Italian from Manhattan..."
1f. So they pull out the directory of city employees, and look for a name "that even the dumbest voter would be able to tell was Italian." Vincent R. Impellitteri gets the job. And then years later, by doing nothing, becomes mayor of New York City.
1g. This guy had no idea what he was doing. Warren Moscow, a mayoral aide, describes sessions with Impellitteri, "...he'd sit there and some problem would come up, and the poor bastard would say, 'I got no answer on this boys, You got any ideas?'" And then they'd sit in silence.
1h. This was the chance Robert Moses had been waiting for. Already a powerful figure in New York, every morning he'd meet with the mayor in a closed-door session and set the agenda.
1i. Robert Moses was running the town and everybody knew it. Just because they pulled this guy's name out of a book.
(I won't usually take this long to tell a story, but a big book demands a big thread.)
(I won't usually take this long to tell a story, but a big book demands a big thread.)
2a. Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
In 1914, the French newspaper "Le Figaro" published an intimate letter written by Joseph Caillaux, the prime minister, that he had written to a woman before they were married, while they were having an affair.
In 1914, the French newspaper "Le Figaro" published an intimate letter written by Joseph Caillaux, the prime minister, that he had written to a woman before they were married, while they were having an affair.
2b. The woman in question was Parisian socialite Henriette Caillaux.
So, she "bought a gun, practiced with it at the gunsmith’s shop, then went to the editor’s office and fired six times." The editor of the newspaper died six hours later.
So, she "bought a gun, practiced with it at the gunsmith’s shop, then went to the editor’s office and fired six times." The editor of the newspaper died six hours later.
2c. At the trial she said, "These pistols are terrible things. They go off by themselves.” Eventually she was acquitted after she had convinced the court "the murder was a crime of passion."
3a. "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt" by T.J. Stiles
This one is less of a CRAZY ANECDOTES FROM HISTORY I CAN'T SHUT UP ABOUT™ and more of a QUOTE THAT IS A SAD REMINDER ABOUT HOW SOME THINGS DON'T CHANGE EVEN AFTER CENTURIES HAVE PASSED.©
This one is less of a CRAZY ANECDOTES FROM HISTORY I CAN'T SHUT UP ABOUT™ and more of a QUOTE THAT IS A SAD REMINDER ABOUT HOW SOME THINGS DON'T CHANGE EVEN AFTER CENTURIES HAVE PASSED.©
3b. From Chapter Five:
When Charles Dickens visited the United States in 1842, he marveled at the American “love of ‘smart’ dealing, which gilds over many a swindle and gross breach of trust.”
When Charles Dickens visited the United States in 1842, he marveled at the American “love of ‘smart’ dealing, which gilds over many a swindle and gross breach of trust.”
3c. He often pointed out a man who was getting rich “by the most infamous and odious means,” yet was “tolerated and abetted” by the public. He always asked, “In the name of wonder, then, what is his merit?” Back came the invariable reply: “Well, sir, he is a smart man.”
4a. "Wilson" by A. Scott Berg
Before he was President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson was elected as the President of Princeton University in 1902. At the very first board meeting he called as President, he presented a very detailed memo to modernize the college.
Before he was President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson was elected as the President of Princeton University in 1902. At the very first board meeting he called as President, he presented a very detailed memo to modernize the college.
4b. One of his first recommendations was to introduce a concentration of classes. Each department would have a clear sequence defined, and after their first two years at the school, students would then refocus their studies by selecting some electives of their own.
4c. "…students should elect some courses that would allow them to specialize further within their majors and some courses from different disciplines, which would round out their educations. This plan of a major with electives … would become the model…"
4d. "…for most liberal arts curricula across the country for the next century."
5a. "The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power" by @RobertACaro
I'm only halfway and there are DOZENS of things I could pull out, but there's one piece I keep returning to.
I'm only halfway and there are DOZENS of things I could pull out, but there's one piece I keep returning to.
5b. In one chapter, Caro slows down to illustrate what life was like in the HIll Country, Johnson's birthplace, before electricity. It would be an incredible understatement to say that life there was difficult. Backbreaking work at every turn.
5c. According to a 1940 Agriculture Department study, the average person living on a farm used 40 gallons of water a day. The average family was 5 people. That meant 200 gallons of water had to be hauled, usually by the woman of the house, using a heavy yolk to carry the buckets.
5d. On top of this, another study found that out of 275 Hill County women, 158 had perineal tears, quoting the book here, which is quoting the study, "many of them... third-degree... 'tears so bad that it is difficult to see how they stand on their feet.'"
5e. It's a minor detail in a chapter that is filled with horror stories of difficult work, but the futility of ironing really stood out to me. No surprise here: irons are called "irons" because they used to be made of a 6 or 7 pound wedge of iron.
5f. These would need to be heated on a wood stove. BUT, wood creates soot, which would accumulate on the iron, so you'd have to scrub with a salted rag or scrape the hot iron to keep it clean after a few uses. But no matter how careful you were...
5g. ...at some point you were going to get soot on your clothes from ironing them, which meant that you were going to have to wash them again, which meant you were going to need to draw more water and use skin-peeling lye soap. Just inconceivably hard work.
6a. Citizen Reporters: S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell and the Magazine That Rewrote America by Stephanie Gorton
One of my favorite elements of non-fiction are the moments of recognition across time. Similar attitudes, mistakes, etc. But I love finding jokes that still work today.
One of my favorite elements of non-fiction are the moments of recognition across time. Similar attitudes, mistakes, etc. But I love finding jokes that still work today.
6b. EVEN BETTER is when somebody makes a bawdy joke. Often they have to find a turn-of-the-century workaround to get their punchline across in a way that wouldn't offend the demure sensibilities of the time.
McClure is launching a magazine in the middle of an economic meltdown…
McClure is launching a magazine in the middle of an economic meltdown…
6c. It is not going well. The magazine loses $5,000 a month (that's roughly $144,000 with inflation).
"Another newspaperman made a crack repeated more than once by those who worked under McClure: 'If he had been a woman, he would have been pregnant all the time.'"
1893 ZING!
"Another newspaperman made a crack repeated more than once by those who worked under McClure: 'If he had been a woman, he would have been pregnant all the time.'"
1893 ZING!
